


When you can't go on, lean on me.

by Stardustwrites17



Series: Whumptober 2020 (or where I hurt the Hargreeves) [3]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Allison Hargreeves is a good sister, Anxiety Attacks, Diego Hargreeves is a Good Brother, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, No Incest, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Past Child Abuse, Post-Season/Series 02, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy) Need a Hug, Unconsciousness, Vomiting, Whumptober 2020, disorientation, ears ringing, idk - Freeform, its been a rough week okay?, let number five sleep, more or less, no judging, spoilers for season 2 obviously, the writer may or may not be projecting her issues into five, this ones a doozy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27434122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardustwrites17/pseuds/Stardustwrites17
Summary: Panic seized him. It didn’t happen often, but seeing his siblings in danger once again, picturing them once again in his father’s grasp, panic grabbed his heart and squeezed until he was out of breath.So he grabbed all of them, reaching for anything he could grab, a shoulder, hair, a jacket, and pushed his limits until he felt something crack like a glass ball inside him. He might have screamed, a high pitched sound filled his ears....Voices echoed around him, making his head spin.“What’s wrong with him?”“Gotta go back” the words stumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Everyone quietened immediately, he could almost feel them looking at each other uneasily.“Five” Luther finally spoke, “we’re in 2019, remember?”...Or, after their encounter with the Sparrow Academy, Five jumps him and his siblings away. He might have over-done it.Whumptober day 25: disorientation, blurred vision, ringing ears.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Allison Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: Whumptober 2020 (or where I hurt the Hargreeves) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953697
Comments: 15
Kudos: 426





	When you can't go on, lean on me.

**Author's Note:**

> This is partly my take on what would happen in season 3, partly my way of exploring Allison's and Five's relationship, and partly my desire for Five to take a goddamn nap. Enjoy!

The seconds after Regginald ordered the Sparrow Academy to capture them were a blur. 

Five dimly remembered his siblings forming a defensive circle, all of them ready for a fight, Diego with his knives out, Vanya glowing blue. 

Panic seized him. It didn’t happen often, but seeing his siblings in danger once again, picturing them once again in his father’s grasp, panic grabbed his heart and squeezed until he was out of breath. 

So he grabbed all of them, reaching for anything he could grab, a shoulder, hair, a jacket, and pushed his limits until he felt something crack like a glass ball inside him. He might have screamed, a high pitched sound filled his ears.

The world turned blue, then dark, there was a pull in his gut, like a string that connected him to the end of the tunnel; just like every time he travelled through space. 

But this time there was a weight behind him, pulling him back. He pushed forwards, careful not to lose the weight. 

He landed on buckling legs, the world was spinning around him. 

He heard groans around him, someone retched.

“A little warning next time, Five” Diego grumbled as he helped Klaus to his feet. When there was no response he turned to him.

“Five?”

Five didn’t answer, he was a little preoccupied with not throwing up the moment his mouth opened. 

His ears rang, the floor seemed to move under him, getting closer and farther, like a rocking boat.

“-ive?” 

Someone was calling his name, his father probably wanted him to blink once more, farther, faster. He knew he should straighten up, ignore the pounding in his head and try again. Otherwise, he knew the goddamn cane would fall on his back or his shoulder.

But as much as he wanted to obey his father, nausea twisted his stomach into a knot, his knees were buckling dangerously. 

The floor suddenly seemed closer, his stomach cramped painfully, and he closed his eyes as he felt his legs give out underneath him. 

Then an arm snuck around his waist, preventing his nose from having a violent encounter with the asphalt. 

Asphalt?

“Five? Look at me” 

_ Dad hated when he blinked out of the house, he was gonna be pissed- _

He was on the floor, leaning against somebody… it couldn’t be his father. He snorted at the thought.

So where…?

“He’s gonna kill me,” he muttered. A face- Diego, his brain supplied- appeared in front of him and frowned.

“Who’s gonna kill you, Five?”

“Dad-“ that’s how much he got out before he leaned over and threw up everything he had eaten that day, granted, it wasn’t that much (who had time to eat- or sleep- when there was a world to save and siblings to protect?), but it was still disgusting and painful.

He groaned the moment he finished, and a second later he gagged once again as the smell hit him. Diego cursed as he pulled them both away from the mess. 

Voices echoed around him, making his head spin. 

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Gotta go back” the words stumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Everyone quietened immediately, he could almost feel them looking at each other uneasily.

“Five” Luther finally spoke, “we’re in 2019, remember?”

It took an embarrassing amount of time for the fog in his mind to clear, and when it did his cheeks flushed. He looked up and saw his siblings all staring at him. He realized he was still leaning against Diego. 

He shot up to his feet and walked out of their little circle. He realized with a grimace his blazer had vomit on it. He looked up, his siblings were still staring. Klaus took a step forward, his hands showing him the tattoos and knees bent, like he was approaching a scared animal.

“I’m fine,” he snarled.

As soon as the words left his mouth, his ears filled with static, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he crumpled to the floor. 

Everything that happened after that was fuzzy. 

He remembered voices, shouting and worried; arms around him that picked him up. His head was pounding, his eyes wouldn’t open. 

The next thing he remembered was sitting upright, his head resting against someone as he was manhandled out of his blazer. He didn’t fight it, his skin felt like it was on fire.

Everything went black again.

He heard voices, someone was close. He shot up from where he was laying, panting and looking for the threat as he felt adrenaline hum in his veins.

“Five, you’re fine, relax”

There was a hand on his shoulder and another one in his back rubbing circles.

His eyes focused on Diego.

“Don’t let dad catch us” he thought, or maybe said, his brain felt like it was dipped in caramel. 

His eyes closed, he let himself be laid down again. 

Maybe he had dreamed it, but he could’ve sworn he heard Diego say “I won’t” before he was swept away once again by cool darkness. 

The third time was the charm. He opened his eyes to find himself laying in the backseat of a car, his head pillowed on Allison’s lap and his legs over the next seat, which was empty. They had taken his shoes off, as well as his shirt, leaving him with his undershirt. 

Everything was quiet, the only sound to be heard was the car’s motor. 

He looked up at Allison, who was staring out the window as she absentmindedly ran her fingers through his hair. 

She looked down as if she had felt his gaze, and smiled at him.

“Hey. Are you back with us?”

He straightened up, closing his eyes for a moment when the world spun. Nausea tickled the back of his throat, but he swallowed thickly and ignored it.

“Where are we?”

He looked around. Luther was driving, Diego sitting next to him, sleeping against the window. He turned around and found Klaus and Vanya in the backseats, Klaus with his hat covering his eyes as he dozed, and Vanya leaning against him. Klaus had his arm wrapped around her. 

“We’re heading to the south, laying low until we figure out our next move”

He frowned 

“Where did you guys find a van?”

She smiled guiltily, her cheeks pink.

“I rumored a guy to let us have it for ten bucks” 

Five snorted, of course.

“How long was I out?”

“About three hours, you had a fever for a while. Your shirt is in the back” she added when he crossed his arms and shivered. 

She turned around and slapped Klaus’ knee. He grunted, lifting his hat to glare at her. When he saw Five was awake though, he grinned 

“You’re back from the dead! Yay!”

“Klaus, his shirt” 

“Oh, right” 

He handed it back to them, frowning when he saw it almost gray with dirt and soot

“We are getting you some new clothes in the next stop”

Five ignored him, slipping his arms into the sleeves and buttoning up the shirt.

“How you feeling, Five?” Diego mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes.

“I’m fine,” he said absentmindedly. When he saw Allison giving him the stink eye, he corrected himself. “Better” 

The conversation ended after that, and Five welcomed the silence, even if it didn’t help the banging in his head. 

The longer he stayed awake the worst he felt. His head was pounding, he could feel the swell from the pan Lila had thrown at him. God, that had happened just this morning?

Nausea churned at his gut with every curve and bump, he didn’t realize he was trembling until Allison nudged him, concern clear in her eyes. 

“You’re shivering,” she noted. 

He said nothing. Allison reached over and placed her palm on his forehead. It took a moment to register anything but the fact that her hand was pleasantly cool against his face. 

When her hand slid to his cheek, he pushed it away.

“Stop it” he grumbled, regretting it almost instantly when she obeyed. 

“You’re still burning up” she said

“No shit” he snapped

She sighed, and suddenly he noticed the heavy bags under her eyes. Had they been there all this time?

“Sorry,” he closed his eyes and leaned back against his seat, “My head hurts”

“ _ I heard a rumor, your headache was gone _ ”

Instantly the pressure disappeared. It was a temporary fix, he knew because they had done this before, when they were kids, but it was a relief all the same.

“You are my new favorite sibling” he muttered, his whole body unwinding as he felt exhaustion was over him. 

“I resent that” Klaus mumbled from behind.

“Of course you do” 

Allison laughed, and that pulled a small tired smile from Five. 

“Go to sleep, Five. I’ll wake you up for the next stop”

Something was draped across his lap, a jacket if he wasn’t mistaken. He didn’t bother to open his eyes to check. 

Before he drifted off, a particular curve made his body lean against Allison. A moment later, everything was swept away by darkness.

The next stop was uneventful. They grabbed snacks, water and a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie for Five. It was big on him, and he hated how he looked smaller than he really was. When he went back to the car the only thing that had changed was that Diego and Klaus had switched places. Vanya was already asleep again, or at least pretending she was. 

The conversation stopped abruptly when Five climbed in and closed the door, which made him roll his eyes. 

“Hey, Five? Have you eaten anything yet?” Allison was already in her seat, a half eaten sandwich in her hand. 

“I’m not hungry” that was a lie. He knew the limits of his body, knew he had overdone it. He also knew that when he overused his powers, eating anything would guarantee him throwing up in the next 30 minutes. So no, eating was not an option, no matter what his stomach told him. 

“Alright, are you feeling any better?”

Five looked around as he put on his seatbelt. His siblings were all looking at him, concern written in every line of their faces. It made his skin crawl, his throat closed up, his lungs couldn’t get enough air. He had closed the door, he was trapped.

“I’m fine. I just need to sleep” 

His voice didn't crack. Good.

Allison looked like she wanted to add something, but he buried his nose in his new hoodie and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the window and curling up. 

No one said anything else.

It took almost half an hour for his hands, hidden in his hoodie, to stop shaking.

…

“You know, while you were unconscious, you said said some things”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Allison”

They were one hour in, everyone was sleeping, the radio was playing a soft tune Luther was humming along to.

“Dad also hit me with the cane”

That got him to open his eyes. He had that look in them, the  _ who messed with my little siblings  _ look he usually reserved for Klaus and Vanya. 

“The first time he ever did, it’s because I tried to rumor him. Klaus had come to my bed that night, sobbing and trembling, so the next morning in training, I tried it while his back was turned. I had barely said rumor, when he turned around and drove the cane into my stomach. I thought I was going to die, I couldn’t breathe... We were nine. T”

She could see Five cracking, his eyes drowning in distress as he brought his legs up to his chest and hid his face in his knees. Allison waited for the ragged breathing to ease up, waited as Five dug the palms of his hands into his eyes.

“Goddamnit. What the hell was the point of that story, Allison?”

He stared at her, looking more tired and weary than Allison had ever seen him. 

“My point is, dad wasn’t… he wasn’t great at his job, and that’s a burden we all carry, you don’t have to be ashamed of it”

“I’m not ashamed” he dragged his hand across his face with a sigh. God, he was tired and his migraine had returned. 

“But I’m a 58 year old man, I’ve moved on, lived my life. Things like that shouldn’t get to me”

“You mean overworking yourself for two weeks, collapsing and thinking you were being abused by your father again?”

Five glared at her.

“Yes” 

“Well then you’re stupid” Five rolled his eyes, regretting it instantly when a spike of pain tore through his skull.

“What a great conclusion to a wonderful talk. I’m going to sleep now”

He turned, as much as he could since he was next to her, and closed his eyes. A few minutes later he spoke again.

“What were you trying to rumor him into doing?”

“Love us”

He closed his eyes, ignoring the ache in his chest, the burning in his eyes. 

And if he reached over a few minutes later and took Allison’s hand in his, that wasn’t anybody’s business but theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> You may be asking yourself "what was the point of that story?"  
> The author doesn't really know so you don't get to neither.  
> Love, a very stressed out student.  
> Comments make me smile :)


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